


Halloween Night

by GE72



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Murder Mystery, Police Procedural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 05:25:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14846652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GE72/pseuds/GE72
Summary: A re-write of a previous story.... The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit are called to a Maryland college town when six students are found brutally murdered and one traumatized survivor left alive on Halloween night. But the case blows up when its discovered that the police may have ignored an emergency call from the crime scene. Things get more complicated when the friends of the victims are covering something up. (Set during season 7).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a re-write of a previously posted story, "Halloween" for Law and Order: Criminal Intent. I took the same premise and plot, and moved it to another show. Most of the names have been changed, and some details moved around.  
> Let me know which version is better.

Halloween. It’s a night to raise the dead. Or make someone dead.

Or a night to go trick or treating or spend some time with loved ones.

The agents of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit were celebrating Halloween in their various ways with their friends and families, or just enjoying the evening by themselves.

At his home, special agent David Rossi was alone, sitting on a sofa, reading the newest mystery novel by Richard Castle in one hand, while he enjoyed a sifter of brandy. On his stereo, his favorite CD of Frank Sinatra was playing.

Aaron Hotchner was helping his son Jack count up the tally of Halloween candy he had amassed during trick or treating that night. Jack had separated the chocolate candies from the others, like the fruit flavored ones, and a couple of boxes of raisins from the health conscious homes he knocked on. When Jack wasn’t looking, Hotchner would quickly sneak a chocolate candy from his son’s pile and pocket it for himself.

Jennifer Jareau – JJ to her colleagues – was at home with her boyfriend Will and her son Henry. She was handing out candy to the trick or treaters at the door, dressed up as a witch, complete with pointy hat, fake crooked nose, and a long black dress.

The lights were off at the home of Derek Morgan. The only thing on inside was a Teddy Pendergrass CD playing on the stereo system in the living room, while he was with his girlfriend.

Emily Prentiss was home, on the phone with her mother, who was off in Europe somewhere. In Europe, they had a different idea of Halloween should be celebrated, as her mother filled her in on what was going on.

Spencer Reid was at a Halloween party, at the home of their technical analyst Penelope Garcia. Reid showed up dressed as the fourth Doctor Who, only to find out there two others there dressed the same way, long scarf and all. Garcia was dressed as a Washington Capitals hockey player.

Halloween was being celebrated each in their own way….but not all of them were in good spirits. 

***********************************

At Maryland State University, Halloween was well underway. Parties seemingly began all over campus as soon as classes ended that day. So what if it was a Thursday night? Halloween was an excuse to party even if there were classes on Friday. To the students, Friday was a mere interruption to the party that would continue that weekend.

The parties were the biggest on Greek Row. They were planned weeks in advance, and as most fraternities and sororities, it was also an excuse to party like there was no tomorrow.

Of course, not every Halloween party was perfect.

At the Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority house, everything seemed that way, as the partygoers were enjoying the atmosphere and their costumes, and the significant others they were sharing their drinks with. 

But one person wasn’t enjoying the party.

Dana Brenner tried to push the numbers on her cell phone, even as the numbers began to blur in her eyes.

“Please, please, hurry up,” she said to herself.

She was dressed in all white, with a touch of lace. The makeshift halo she had on her head had fallen off inside the sorority house, somewhere, she wasn’t sure where anymore. This was more important.

She pushed the final number, and heard the ringing on the other end. Her eyes began to blur even more, as her body began to lull into unconsciousness.

“Hi, this is Chris, I can’t come to my phone, but leave a message and a number, thanks.” BEEP.

“Chris!” Dana exclaimed. “Come quick….I can’t stay awake….I think….I think…..I think I’ve been drugged…..Chris!....I’m at the house….Please hurry!...” 

The noise of the party close by began to mix up with the noise in her own head. She tried to stay on her feet, as she tried to walk away from the sorority house. 

It was Kappa Delta Epsilon’s Halloween Party. All the girls, thirty five in all, had all dressed up in their costumes, all to the point of being risqué. Cats, genies, naughty school teachers, even naughtier Catholic schoolgirls, even a couple of cops. Lots of booze was flowing inside, mostly vodka and sangria. Only Dana’s costume was simple, definitely more chaste than anyone’s. She was an angel, all dressed in white. Very appropriate, considering her father was a politically influential Christian pastor.

But for her, this Halloween party was going to hell.

She stumbled a few more steps, before someone else grabbed her, steadying her.

“Dana, are you all right?”

Dana tried to focus her eyes on the person who was helping her. 

“No,” she said. “Brandy, let me go –“

“You look terrible,” Brandy Harrison said. Brandy was dressed as a genie from a bottle, something out of “I Dream of Jeannie.”

“No,” pleaded Dana, her voice beginning to waver. “Chris…..he’s coming…”

“I’ll just sit you down,” Brandy said, guiding her to a place to sit. Dana kept on stumbling, as the drug, whatever she took – or was given – was beginning to overtake her. “Everything will be fine,” Brandy said. Dana’s eyes began to drop closed.

A couple of more steps followed, as Dana saw where Brandy was guiding her. There was a chair all right, but it was the back seat of a car.

She made an attempt to break free, but it was too late. Whatever was given to her finally knocked her out.

“Put her in the back,” a woman dressed as a devil said. Her costume made her look more like a hooker, though, with tight, dark red shorts, an even tighter red sport top, and red knee high leather boots. She had a pair of horns attached to her blonde hair.

“So, what’s the plan Kim?” Brandy asked her friend, as she placed Dana in the back seat.

“The plan is to get her out of the sorority,” Kim Zachary said sharply, her breath hot with vodka. “It’s about time she got out.”

“A bit cold.”

“After what she did to us, she deserves it.”

“Where are you taking her?” Brandy asked.

“Just a few blocks away,” Kim said. “Then we’ll bring her back after she’s learned her lesson.” Kim went over to the front driver’s side of the car, an early nineties red Mustang, and drove off. Brandy went back to the party inside the Kappa house.

Neither girl noticed that someone was across the street, watching them.


	2. Chapter 2

Halloween night, 8:45 p.m.

Halloween was also a time for pranks in good fun. Unless you were the police in a small college town like where Maryland State University was, where they found prank calls not so funny at all.

And the calls that weren’t pranks on Halloween were just as bad.

Calls to the police station that night of the real variety mostly involved drunkenness of people dressed up, or in some cases, not dressed up.

It made for some unhappy police officers, both inside the station and out on patrol. 

Jim Caplan, the chief of police, was overseeing another bunch of drunken college students as they were being brought in by his officers.

“More D and D’s?” he asked.

One of the officers nodded. “All from the university,” Officer Mills said. “Surprise, surprise.”

“Don’t those kids have anything better to do than get drunk?” Caplan asked.

Another officer said, “Doubt it. They probably ran out of pot.”

One of the drunken students looked at the officers. “Officer, I’d like to report an assault,” he said.

“Really? Where?”

“Here.” The drunk student feebly swung, only hitting air while falling forward, and landing at Caplan’s feet.

“Put him in the tank,” Caplan said, “along with the rest.”

“Chief,” John Borland, the desk sergeant called out. “We got a call about another clown running around without his pants on. Fifth one tonight, same as before.”

“The university?” Chief Caplan asked. Borland nodded. “Great, more prank calls,” Caplan said disgustingly. “Tell them if they see ‘It’ again, tell him the circus left town.” He stepped aside to let officers pick up the drunken student at his feet. “I’ll be in my office.” Caplan turned and walked away.

“How many more of these calls are we going to get tonight?” one of the officers asked Borland.

“Too damn many,” Borland replied. “Maybe the next one, we can just tell them to forget it. We’re not responding to any more prank calls.”

***************************

8:55 p.m.

Kim drove the Mustang to a deserted house, some blocks away from the university. The house, an old Victorian model, was abandoned and had obviously seen better days. 

There were already four guys from the Omega Theta Xi fraternity there waiting. Kim motioned them to help the unconscious Dana out of the car and take her inside.

They brought Dana to what was the living room, and placed her in the middle of the floor. The room was dark and only illuminated by candles, burning in each corner of the room. There was a klieg light on a stand in one of the corners but it was off, as was the generator powering it.

“How long will she be out?” the man who helped Kim asked.

“Long enough,” Kim replied.

“What if she wakes up?”

“All the better.”

“How much did you give her?”

“Enough.” Kim looked at him. “Where are the others, Dave?”

“They’re on their way,” Dave Langham said. “Eric will join us later. He’s getting a couple of kegs.”

“Good.” Kim looked at the unconscious Dana. Her body, draped in her angelic costume, was in the middle of a painted red circle, with a pentagram inside the circle. Kim said to her, “We’ll teach you that you should have never turned on us the way you did.”

Outside the house, the person who had seen them outside the Kappa sorority had followed them. He was across the street watching, and waiting.

_Don’t worry, I’ll rescue you._

*************************

9:10 p.m.

Chris Murray burst into the sorority. “WHERE IS SHE?” he yelled out.

The party goers inside the house, all in costume, just looked at him, then resumed doing what they were doing – drinking and dancing, not necessarily in that order.

“Where is she!?” Chris demanded. He was the only one not in a costume.

“Chris!” Susan Cutler, the head of the Kappa house, made her way through the crowd to him. She was dressed up as a cowgirl, with demin shorts a la Daisy Duke. “What the hell is going on?”

“I got a call from Dana,” Chris said. “She said someone drugged her, and she was scared out of her mind. So where is she?!”

“I don’t know where she is now!” Susan said, trying to lead Chris to the door. “Last time I saw her, she seemed okay to me.”

“So, you have no idea what the hell is happening,” Chris angrily said. “Typical.” He looked around again. “Where’s that psycho bitch Kim?”

Susan looked around as well. “I don’t know – “ Susan looked around again. “You know, I haven’t seen her in a while either.” She looked at Chris. “You don’t think – “

“Kim? Dana?” Chris said. “It’s not good.”

“Look, I don’t know where they are, or if they’re even together,” Susan insisted. “I know you’re Dana’s boyfriend and all, but just calm down and – “

“I’ll calm down when I find Dana!” Chris snapped. He turned to walk away as a couple of partygoers came up to him.

“You said you were looking for Dana?” one of them asked. Chris nodded. “I saw her earlier. Someone was helping her into a car. They were headed for some old house off campus.” 

“Yeah,” the other person said. “They were at this old house. I think its abandoned or something.”

“Thanks.” Chris pushed his way past them and out the door.

*******************************

9:15 p.m.

The four guys with Kim were not dressed in costume. For this, they didn’t need to be.

“How’s the guest of honor?” one of them asked Kim.

“She resting comfortably,” Kim replied, puffing on a cigarette. “We’ll start pretty soon.”

“So, we’re going to sacrifice a virgin,” quipped another of the guys.

“No, just her virginity,” Kim replied. “Bring any party favors?”

“I brought this.” One of them raised his shirt, revealing a handgun, a .380 automatic, tucked in his waistband. 

“We won’t need that,” Kim said. “She’ll be quiet.”

“Actually, we got some blow if you want.”

“That will do.”

“It’s in the car.”

“Then get it, Greg,” one of the guys said.

Jack Windom, who had the gun tucked into his waistband, went outside to the car, along with another, Greg Corning. The blow – about a half a kilo of cocaine in a sealed plastic bag – was in the trunk.

“Here, take it inside,” Jack said, tossing the bag to Greg. “I gotta use the bushes.”

Greg went back inside the house. Jack found a place in the bushes and quietly did his business. 

Once done, Jack began to walk back to the house. He heard some leaves rustling behind him. Jack turned around.

Someone was coming slowly towards him. He was about his height, somewhat skinny, dressed simply in a shirt and jeans. And a skull mask over his face.

Though he couldn’t see his face because of the mask, Jack knew who it was.

“What are you doing here, loser?” he sneered. The devil kept walking towards him. “I don’t care if you’re the devil, get the f – “

Jack never saw the butcher’s knife coming at him. He reached for the gun in his waistband, but it was too late. The blade caught Jack at the left side of his neck.

Jack fell to the ground, blood coming out of his jugular.

The skull just kept on walking past him, as Jack Windom bled, trying to staunch the bleeding with his hands in the final seconds of his life.

**********************************

9:30 p.m.

Caplan opened his office door. Inside, desk sergeant Borland had just put the phone down with some force. 

“Calling your girlfriend?” Caplan asked.

“No, but your wife called earlier,” Borland said, somewhat taken aback. “Her and your son just got done trick and treating. He has lots of candy to keep him up tonight.”

“Great. Hope he saved me some. So who was on the phone just now?”

“Wrong number,” Borland replied. “I just put some arrest reports on your desk. Most of them are from the university, just like last year.”

“That figures,” Caplan said. “Thanks sergeant.” He looked at Borland. “Are you okay?”

“I am,” Borland replied. “Happy Halloween.” He exited the office. “So to speak.”

********************************

9:35 p.m.

After he killed Jack Windom outside the house, the person with the skull mask went inside. Within fifteen minutes, the other three Omega guys had been dispatched quickly and surprisingly easy.

He killed the second Omega frat boy coming out the back door, digging the butcher knife into the back of his neck and severing an artery.

The third came a couple of minutes after him. He saw the body and turned to run back to the living room, only to trip. He was easy to dispatch, lifting up his head and cutting his throat.

The final Omega guy had been killed in the hallway leading to the living room, the knife going into his back and the back of his heart. He fell down right in front of Kim.

And now there was just her. Kim tried to run, but he caught her and he shoved her down to the floor, then got on top of her.

“Who are you?!” she screamed. He ignored the question as he raised the butcher knife with his right hand. 

Kim’s arms began to flail upward at her assailant. Her hand grasped at the death mask. The mask fell off of him.

She stared straight up at the face of her attacker.

“You? Of all the people…you? You– “

The knife came down fast, ending the conversation.

But outside, Chris Murray had found Jack Windom’s dead body and ran inside the house.

*********************************

9:40 p.m.

The police cruiser came to a stop in front of the house. The 9-1-1 call was from someone who saw a drunk passed out on the lawn in front. The two officers, Alan Campion and John Frost, got out and surveyed the scene – and immediately saw the body.

They ran over to the corpse of Jack Windom and checked it. 

“9-1-1 caller was wrong,” Frost said. “Guy’s not drunk.”

Campion quickly got on the radio. “Dispatch, we have a D-B at – “

His message was interrupted by a scream coming inside the house.

“I’ll go,” Frost said. He ran inside, his service weapon drawn in one hand, a flashlight in the other.

He went to the living room, where he found two of the bodies. He looked down at Kim Zackery’s bloodied body, made that way by numerous stab wounds.

Frost quickly scanned the room. He saw the painted pentagram on the floor, the paint smeared in one direction, towards another room.

“Campion, we got more D-B’s here,” Frost said into his walkie talkie. “Two dead, maybe more.”

He went into the other room, shining the light to illuminate the space as best he could.

Inside the room, there was Dana Brenner, still in her angel costume, sitting up against the wall, the look on her face, pale, and her eyes, barely open but fixed on what was in front of her.

Six feet in front of her, was Chris Murray, her boyfriend, on the ground, a knife sticking out of his chest.

Next to Chris’ body, was a skull mask.


	3. Chapter 3

_“Murder is a human potential as universal as love. It exists in the kind and the meek; in the gentle and the innocent, though perhaps it lay deeply buried in them than in others.”_ \- Dean Koontz  
___________________________________________________

It was five in the morning of November first, when the agents of the Behavioral Analysis Unit were called in about the events at Maryland State University. They quickly assembled at FBI Headquarters in Quantico by six.

“Happy morning after Halloween, my fellow fighters of evil,” Garcia greeted as the agents sat down at the table, still trying to get the sleep out of their eyes. “And we got a lot of it this morning.” Copies of preliminary reports of the murders were on the table for them to quickly read.

“What happened that was so bad?” Morgan asked.

“Six murdered at Maryland State University in Temple Hill,” Hotchner replied in his let’s-get-down-to-business manner.

Garcia added, “Including the devil.”

“The devil?” Emily repeated.

“No, just someone pretending to be one,” Garcia corrected. She clicked on the plasma screen with her remote control, as crime scene photos appeared on the screen.

“The six dead were all students at Maryland State University,” Hotchner stated. “Police were responding to a complaint of a passed out drunk outside an abandoned house, and they found one of the six with his throat cut. The others were all inside. They called us to help out.”

“Looks like something out of a horror movie,” Rossi said.

“Could be,” Garcia said, clicking the remote to the plasma screen. One of the pictures enlarged on screen. “This is Kim Zachary, one of the victims. As you can see, she was dressed as the devil.” Her body showed multiple and fatal stab wounds, and was covered in blood.

“That’s a lot of rage,” Reid observed.

“Hard to tell where the blood ends and the costume begins,” Rossi noted.

J.J. asked, “What costume?” 

“Yet, the other victims were quickly killed,” Morgan also noted. “He was efficient.”

“And he took his time with Kim Zachary,” Rossi added. “Maybe she was the object of all that anger, the others just happened to be in the way.”

“Maybe so, but the last victim put up a fight,” Hotchner said.

Garcia clicked the remote and another picture became enlarged on the screen. It was of another victim, with a knife sticking out of his chest, as his body was on the floor.

“Chris Murray, another student at Maryland State,” Hotchner pointed out. “It appears he was the last victim killed. From what we can tell, he fought the attacker and knocked his mask off, before he was killed.” The death mask was a couple of feet away from him.

“We can hope for DNA,” Prenitss said. “Maybe even fingerprints.”

“There were no survivors?” J.J. asked.

“There was one, just like the old slasher movies,” Garcia replied. “According to the police reports, another student, Dana Brenner, was found alive, a few feet away from Chris Murray’s body. She was untouched, but she was really out of it, and I mean, out of it.”

“Watching someone get killed in front of you would do that,” Rossi said.

“There was the possibility she could’ve been drugged,” J.J. said.

“Something’s not right,” Reid said. “You kill six people with that much rage and anger, you don’t leave someone alive as a witness.”

“Maybe the killer didn’t have time,” Morgan said.

“Let’s make sure the killer doesn’t have a second chance,” Hotchner said. “We’re headed to Maryland State.”

***************************

The agents took two black SUV’s up Interstate 95, through the Virginia countryside, before veering off onto the Interstate 495 Beltway and over the Potomac River, just south of Washington DC. Even though they weren’t headed to the capital, there was still heavy traffic on the Beltway. Maryland State University was south of the capital in Temple Hill. 

Hotchner, Rossi, and Prentiss were in one car, Morgan, Reid, and J.J. in the other. Garcia would be providing technical support from Quantico.

Halfway during the drive, Garcia contacted the agents. Rossi used his cell phone to put Garcia on speaker while Hotchner drove. 

“Guys, just thought I’d give you a heads up,” she said. “It’s about Kim Zachary’s family.”

“What about them?” Hotchner asked.

“Her daddy is Frank Zachary.”

“As in Congressman Frank Zachary?” Prentiss asked. “He could’ve been senator but he lost the election last year to Don Carpenter.”

“He’s still big in some circles,” Garcia said. “He donated money to some big causes, and he sits on some big congressional committees, including law enforcement.”

“He’ll be probably watching us like the proverbial hawk,” Hotchner said.

“As if having Strauss watching us closely wasn’t enough,” Rossi added. Their immediate superior, Erin Strauss, was keeping a close eye on them in light of the whole Ian Doyle case a couple of months earlier.

Garcia repeated the discovery to the other agents.

“A politician’s daughter among the victims,” Morgan said as he drove. “Things just got interesting, and not in a good way.”

“Maybe this whole thing was about getting the father through the daughter,” Reid surmised.

“What kind of enemies would he have to go after his daughter?” asked J.J.

“Or maybe this whole thing was about the daughter,” Morgan wondered aloud. 

“We’ll know when we get there,” J.J. said.

*************************

The agents arrived in Temple Hill just after eight a.m. The sun was already up, but there was a lot of activity both outside and inside the building.

Outside, a couple of TV station vans, equipped with satellite dishes on their roofs, were parked, waiting for the eventual news conference. Even a couple of networks, CBS and ABC, were there.

Inside, there was activity unheard of at eight in the morning. Uniformed and plain clothes police officers were on the phones, taking calls from concerned citizens about the murders. 

The BAU agents went inside the station. A man in a full police uniform, albeit somewhat disheveled, and about fifty years old, greeted them.

“Jim Caplan, Chief of Police,” he said. Hotchner introduced the agents to him. “It’s kind of a madhouse right now. Something like this has never happened here before. We’ve had murders here, but nothing like this.”

“We’ll do our best to help,” Hotchner said. The BAU’s role is strictly advisory as they assisted local law enforcement by providing behavioral analysis, and investigative and operational support.

“I have six dead college kids and a whole town on edge,” Caplan said. “People are going to screaming for answers, especially the victims’ families.”

“We want to go over what you have right now,” Hotchner said. He turned to face the other agents. “Dave, you and Emily go the crime scene. Derek, you and Reid go to the morgue. Me and J.J. will go over the crime scene reports and photos.”

“What about the reporters outside?” Caplan asked.

“I can do that,” J.J. replied. She was the unit’s media liaison when she first started with the BAU before taking on the role of profiler with the team. “I can give some preliminary report on the case before having a full on press conference later.”

With that, the team dispersed. Chief Caplan led Hotchner and J.J. to a conference room. “We have the evidence and crime scene photos set up in here. You can go over them and let us know what you think. We’re still collecting evidence at the scene and processing it.”

“Thanks,” Hotchner said. Caplan left the conference room, as J.J. looked over the evidence board. Photos of the scene, including the corpses of the victims, were pinned up.

“This is something out of a horror movie,” J.J. remarked.

“I’ve seen a couple of horror movies,” Hotchner said. “The only difference here is that our killer is real.”

***********************************

He had returned to his room just after the murders. For a while, he just sat on his bed, somewhat in shock but also triumphant over what he had done.

_I killed them. I killed them all._

He tried to rationalize what he had done.

Kim Zachary. After what she did to him, she deserved it.

So did the Omegas. The way they humiliated him on her say so. Just for saying “Hi” to Dana. Just because he wasn’t an Omega or from Greek Row.

Chris….he didn’t want to, but he had no choice. Chris saw him standing over her with the knife, and he just came at him. He wasn’t going to kill her, but he didn’t get the chance to tell Chris that.

But with Chris gone, Dana was all his.

_Me and Dana,_ he thought.

_Me and her….finally….forever._


	4. Chapter 4

_“It began in bright sunshine, not on a dark and stormy night.” – Dean Koontz_  
________________________________________________________________

Rossi and Prentiss arrived at the crime scene on 1311 Creekwood Lane. There were still a couple of police cruisers there parked on the sidewalk in front of the house. The crime scene tape was right up to the sidewalk, far away enough but there was still lots of curious onlookers behind the tape.

The house itself didn’t look like the proverbial haunted house, even in the bright sunlight, though it definitely looked like it had seen better days. 

“Happy Day after Halloween,” Prentiss said, as she and Rossi flashed their credentials to the officers at the scene and were granted access inside the house. They went right to the living room.

Inside, body tape showed were the murder victims were found. Bloodstains and splatter of where they fell marked the spots as well.

“One dead outside, the rest inside,” Rossi remarked as he looked around. 

“From what we already know, our unsub must have had the element of surprise,” Prentiss said.

“He had most of our victims inside here,” Rossi pointed out. “He had them in close quarters. He killed at least one of them with their back turned, so surprise was on his side. This could’ve been a blitz attack.”

“Someone’s coming at you in the dark, and in close quarters,” Prentiss said. “Not a good combination.”

“Maybe it wasn’t completely dark,” Rossi said. He pointed at an unplugged klieg light in the corner of the room. “They saw who was coming at them, but our unsub was too fast.”

Prentiss looked down at the living room floor, where the pentagram had been painted, and a body outline made over it. “Here was where our devil girl was found,” she said. The place where Kim Zachary’s body had been found was a mixture of paint from the pentagram and blood. “Maybe it was a human sacrifice, albeit the fake kind, but something went wrong.”

“I’m thinking Kim Zachary wasn’t the guest of honor here,” Rossi said, “but for someone to get killed like she did, someone must have been pretty pissed off.”

There was a trail of paint that was smeared leading away from the pentagram. The trail went off to an adjoining room, where Rossi and Prentiss went. There was another body outline on the floor.

“This is where they found Chris Murray,” Rossi pointed, “and the survivor, Dana Brenner. Maybe Dana was the guest of honor, the sacrifice.”

“The sacrificial virgin,” Prentiss remarked. “Do you think the unsub dragged Dana’s body in here?” 

“Most likely,” Rossi said. “He was about to finish her off when Murray showed up.”

“The knight in shining armor, killed,” Prentiss said.

Rossi said, “Or maybe killed by another knight in shining armor.”

***********************************************

At the Temple Hill city morgue, in the basement of the hospital, the six dead bodies were ready for examination by the coroner, Doctor Bill Newhart, a dark haired man in his fifties. Reid and Morgan were looking over the bodies for a victimology.

“They were all stabbed to death in one way or another,” Dr. Newhart said. “A couple of them had their jugulars cut. Those two died within seconds.”

“All violently, and quick,” Morgan added.

“When your jugular is cut or severed, you have ten seconds before death,” Reid said.

“These other two didn’t have that,” Doctor Newhart said. “One of them took a stab in the back, cut his aorta from behind. He was dead before he hit the floor. The other got in his chest, underneath his rib cage and upward into his heart.”

“Less than ten seconds,” Reid quipped.

“Have you made identifications on all the victims?” Morgan asked.

“We did,” Newhart replied. “These four are from the Omega Theta Xi fraternity. Their names are Jack Windom, Dave Langham, Greg Corning, and Nick Stoddard. This guy – “ Dr. Newhart pointed at one of the victims – “Jack Windom, had a gun tucked in his waistband when they found him. A three-eighty semi-automatic, from what I understand. The gun is with the police now.”

Morgan and Reid looked at the victim, the one who was found outside the house. “Someone’s coming at you with a big knife,” Morgan said, “and you’re carrying a semi-automatic, and you don’t go for it – what does that tell you?”

“Either he was slow on the draw,” Reid replied, “or he didn’t perceive our unsub as a threat. He was wearing a mask, after all.” 

“Still, guy wearing a mask, brandishing a blade. You can’t tell someone that’s not a threat.”

“What about the girl? Was she from a sorority?” Reid asked.

“According to the ID we found on her,” Dr. Newhart replied, “Kim Zachary was a member of the Kappa Delta Epsilon house.”

“Was Chris Murray from Omega or another frat?” Morgan asked.

“Apparently not,” the coroner replied. “At least it didn’t say on his student identification.”

Morgan took out his phone and dialed the number of someone who would know for sure, and put it on speaker.

“Hello there, tall, dark, and federal,” Garcia answered.

“Need confirmation on Chris Murray, a student at Maryland State University,” Morgan said. “See if he was in a fraternity, specifically Omega Theta Xi.”

“Your wish is my command on my computer,” Garcia said. Ten seconds passed. “Chris Murray is not a member of the Omega Theta Xi fraternity, or of any fraternity on campus.”

“Thanks baby girl.”

“But wait, there’s more,” Garcia quickly said. “I doubt that he would be a member of that particular fraternity. Seems like Omega Theta Xi has been in hot water the past few years.”

“How hot?” Reid asked.

“Boiling over,” Garcia replied. “According to the reports and news stories pulled up by my magic fingers, Omega Theta Xi has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. In 2005, there was a hazing incident involving some pledges. Something involving…..Ew! Ick!”

“What is it?”

“I won’t get into details but it involved peanut butter and sheep. Then in 2010, a video went viral of some Omega guys proudly singing about gay bashing. And then a few weeks ago, the house was hit with probation. Some Omega guys jumped a student who was walking by, minding his own business. They dragged him into the bushes, and made him walk back to his dorm – butt naked.”

There was a lengthy silence. Then, Reid finally said, “I’m so glad I didn’t join a fraternity in college.”

“Reid, you were sixteen when you graduated college,” Morgan pointed out. Then he said into his phone, “Thanks Garcia.”

Doctor Newhart looked at Doctor Reid. “Sixteen when you graduated college?”

“He’s a genius,” Morgan said.

“I have an IQ of 187,” Reid pointed out. “I’m smart enough not to join a fraternity that wouldn’t want me anyway.”

**********************************

Morgan relayed the information on the Omega Theta Xi fraternity to Hotchner and J.J. at the police station. After that, Morgan and Reid headed upstairs to the hospital, where the sole survivor of the murders, Dana Brenner, was recovering.

Two policemen were standing guard over the patient’s door. The agents spoke with the doctor in charge, Doctor Hoffman.

“She was in and out of consciousness when we first brought her in,” Dr. Hoffman said. “She’s been unconscious since two this morning. But she’s stable. Our preliminary tox screen shows she was drugged with rohipnol. Twice the amount normally used.” Rohipnol was a drug used to get lucky with a girl without her consent, a favorite for sexual predators.

“It usually takes twenty four hours for RHP to leave the system,” Reid pointed out. “Double the dose means she might be out of it for another day, and even then, she may not remember what happened. RHP affects short term memory.”

“She may not want to remember seeing her boyfriend Chris getting killed in front of her,” Morgan said. He then asked, “Are her parents here?”

“They’ve been at her bedside since they got here,” Dr. Hoffman said.

An elevator door opened and onto the floor walked Rossi and Prentiss. “Hotch said you were still here,” Rossi said to them, “Anything new?” Morgan and Reid exchanged information as to what they found out at the coroner’s office. 

“So the victims were killed by someone they didn’t perceive as a threat,” Prentiss said. 

“And it sounds like Chris Murray was trying to get Dana Brenner out of there when the unsub killed him,” Morgan added. “We were about to see the parents.”

The agents entered the hospital room. Dana Brenner was on the bed, lying unconscious, with a couple of IV tubes in her arm. Her parents were seated next to the bed, praying over her.

“Mr. and Mrs. Brenner?” Rossi said. The parents looked up, quickly said an “amen” and stood up. The agents introduced themselves.

“I’m James Brenner and my wife, Laura,” the father returned. “Do you have any idea what happened to our daughter?”

“We’re working on it,” Morgan replied.

“It’s that sorority,” Mr. Brenner said. “We should have never let her pledge there.”

“It was her idea,” his wife said. She said to the agents. “I was in the Kappa sorority when I was in college, and they took her in as a legacy. It wasn’t easy for her, since her father is a minister.”

“They didn’t like her, even as a legacy?” Prentiss asked.

“They all thought she was some kind of ‘good’ girl,” Mr. Brenner replied, “maybe too good.”

A good girl, and a minister’s daughter at that, could not be a good fit for a sorority. But the stereotype of the minister’s daughter usually was in the opposite direction, so the sorority may have been expecting one kind of person and got the other.

“Do either of you know Chris Murray?” Rossi asked.

“That’s Dana’s boyfriend,” replied Mrs. Brenner. “Is he all right?” Rossi told them that Chris was one of the murder victims. The news took them by complete surprise.

“We’ll do our best to find out who did this,” Morgan assured them.

They left the hospital and headed back to the police station. As they got into their cars, there was someone near the main entry, talking on his cell phone. They didn’t think about it much as they headed out of the parking lot.

**************************************

He said into the phone. “Eric, we got a problem.”

“How so?”

“The feds were here at the hospital.”

“Is Dana still out of it?”

“Far as I know.”

“Even if she wakes up, she won’t remember anything. We’re still in the clear.”

“I don’t know, man. The feds being here make me nervous.”

“Don’t sweat it. Just keep me posted.”


	5. Chapter 5

The other agents reconvened at the police station, where they pooled their information about the murders and the fraternity’s and sorority’s involvement.

“Four victims from the same fraternity,” Rossi said. “Could be our unsub has a grudge against the Omegas.”

“But Kim Zachary was stabbed multiple times,” Prentiss pointed out. “That’s a lot of rage against one person. Seems like she was the main target of the unsub.”

“And one of the frat boys had a .380 tucked in his belt, and didn’t get a chance to use it,” said Morgan. 

“He must have known the killer or he would’ve shot the guy on sight,” said Reid.

“And from where we’re standing,” said J.J., “it looks like Chris Murray may have been trying to rescue his girlfriend Dana.”

“Another thing,” Reid said. “Why leave Dana Brenner alive? Even if she doesn’t know or even seen the unsub at all, leaving her alive is very risky.”

“Maybe the unsub really was trying to get Dana out of there,” Rossi said.

There was a pause amongst the group. Then Hotchner said, “It’s time to give the profile.”

***************************

Congressman John Zachary was alerted to his daughter’s murder at 5 a.m. that morning. By eight, him and his staff had arrived in Temple Hill. His oldest son Keith was with him, as well as Zachary’s campaign manager Lee Stockwell, and his aide Bill Marcum.

In the coroner’s office, Dr. Newhart showed the body of his daughter to Zachary for official identification. Zachary nodded. His staff let him and his son have a couple of minutes alone to grieve.

After they had a couple of minutes, the Zacharys returned to their staff. They had been joined by one of their security personnel, Ron Ferris. 

“John, Ferris has something you need to hear,” Stockwell said. Ferris held up a cassette player and pushed PLAY on the recording.

The recording was just under a minute. After listening to it, John Zachary looked like he was going to explode.

“Who else has heard this?” he demanded.

“Just us,” Ferris replied, holding up a compact disc. “We made two copies.”

“One to the feds, one to the media,” Zachary instructed.

“Can’t believe it,” Marcum said. “She’s dead because of that?”

“From what I understand, there’s a press conference scheduled for one outside the station,” Stockwell said.

“We’ll tell everyone then,” Zachary said.

The others dispersed, leaving the congressman alone. His daughter, murdered, butchered, all because of…what he just heard.

He thought, _That bastard’s going to pay for this._

*******************************

It was just after twelve when the agents addressed the staff of the Temple Hill police department.

Hotchner started the profile. “Our unsub is most likely a male, in his early twenties, maybe still eighteen or nineteen years old. A college student.”

Morgan continued, “Since a majority of the victims were part of a fraternity, these murders may have been committed out of revenge. He may have wanted to join the fraternity but was denied entry by them, because he didn’t fit into their idea of belonging. He saw them as a social status he wanted to be a part of. Now the unsub sees them as snobs, elitist, entitled, and perceives they look down on him.”

“So what you’re saying is,” Caplan said, “that our killer, or unsub, is most likely, a pledge they turned down.”

“At the very least,” Prentiss said. “The unsub is probably a decent person, who has good grades, never been in trouble but now is looked down upon, for reasons of social standing, or some perceived slight that he committed. To the people who looked down upon him, it was nothing, but to the unsub, it was everything.”

“Fraternities, as well as sororities, are supposed to be an intersection of higher education and literary societies,” Reid explained, “a social club that also adheres to strict secrecy. Our unsub exacted revenge in such a way to show that they were wrong in excluding him, or for belittling him in a certain way.”

“Why did he leave Dana Brenner alive?” one of the officers asked.

“We believe he left her alive because she represents decency, compassion, and kindness that the others didn’t show him,” J.J. replied. “There’s also the possibility that the unsub is in love with her. He may not have known about the boyfriend when he killed him, either by chance or by accident.”

Rossi added, “The unsub was not a violent person to begin with, but something happened to him that made him extract his vengeance in such a violent way. He had a lot of anger building up to that point and something happened Halloween night that triggered his killing spree.”

Hotchner concluded, “We should look at anyone who was denied entry into the Omega Theta Xi fraternity or victimized by the fraternity in some way.”

The briefing broke up and the officers went on their way. Chief Caplan went up to Hotchner.

“You think this is revenge against someone on Greek Row?” he asked.

“It’s possible,” Hotchner said. “Has there been any problems between the local populace and any fraternities or sororities?”

“No more than any other college town,” Caplan replied. “Frat boys get drunk and raise hell on weekends, chase after local girls, and get into fights with their boyfriends, that sort of thing. We got some prank phone calls last night but that happens every Halloween.” He then said, “I’ve called a press conference around one. I hope that’s fine, so to let them know what’s being done.”

“Thanks, chief,” Hotchner said. Caplan left as Hotchner went over to J.J. \

“Get a statement to the press prepared,” he said to her. “We need to keep the fear in this town in check.”

In the meantime, Morgan was on the phone to Garcia back at Quantico. “Can you get a list of those who applied to fraternities here at Maryland State, and were rejected?” he asked her. “Specifically, Omega Theta Xi.”

Reid pointed out, “There are nine million active members in fraternities nationwide. For every member accepted, there’s four who are rejected.”

“That’s a lot of upset college kids,” Rossi said. “But we’re not even sure that our unsub had tried to pledge a fraternity. He could be from the dorms.”

“That expands the suspect pool even more,” Prentiss said.

“Needle in a haystack,” Rossi said. “Maybe two haystacks.”

**************************************

The press conference was held on the steps of the police station as one o’clock approached. Numerous reporters from TV stations, including CBS and ABC networks, and newspapers were in front of a makeshift podium. Behind the podium was Chief Caplan, along with Hotchner, Rossi, and J.J., as well as a couple of more officers.

J.J. addressed the media first.

“The Temple Hill police are investigating the murders of six college students from Maryland State University,” she said to the media. “The FBI was called in by the chief of police, and we are assisting them in the investigation. The FBI is here in a consultation role.”

A question from the media: “What can you tell us about the victims?”

“The victims are all from the university. However, we cannot release their names until all next of kin have been notified.”

Another reporter asked, “What is the situation at the university? Are all the students safe as we speak?”

J.J. stepped aside and Chief Caplan took her place behind the podium. “The university is on high alert. I have been in contact with the president and dean of students at the school; classes have been cancelled for the day.”

The same reporter asked, “There has been tension between the university and the police over some incidents in the past. Has the situation – “

“Hold on right there,” Caplan said to him. “There was been some problems between the police and various student groups at the school. But I assure you the police will do their best to find out those responsible for this heinous act – “

“You want to find the killer of those students!” someone called out. “He’s right there!”

The reporters turned to see who said that. A man in a suit, gray haired, and about six feet tall, and he was walking towards the podium.

“He killed my daughter!” he bellowed out, pointing at the podium. “There, Chief Caplan!”

J.J. quickly said to Hotchner, “This isn’t good.” 

“I know what you did to those kids!” he shouted at Caplan. “You just sat back and did nothing!” The media, those who didn’t have recording equipment, began quickly scribbling down what he was accusing the police of, as photographers quickly began snapping pictures of the scene.

“What are you talking about?” Caplan demanded. 

“I’m John Zachary,” he answered angrily, addressing the reporters. “My daughter was Kim Zachary, a student at Maryland State. And Jim Caplan killed my daughter!”

“What the hell are you talking about!?” demanded Caplan. “I did no such thing!”

Zachary began to walk towards the podium. “You killed all those people at the school!” Zachary bellowed. “You killed my daughter! You killed her, you son of a –“

Zachary charged the podium. Quickly, Hotchner stepped in front of the podium, blocking him from reaching Caplan. Rossi and J.J. pulled Caplan back away from the podium. Cameras clicked around them as reporters took note of the chaotic situation.

Simply put, all hell had broken loose.


	6. Chapter 6

After seeing the blow up in Temple Hill on the television, to say that Erin Strauss, the section chief for the Behavioral Analysis Unit, was upset, would be putting it mildly.

“What the hell happened over there?!” she demanded over the phone from her office in Quantico.

“A grieving father just accused the local police of possible collusion in the murders,” Hotchner replied, trying to remain as calm as possible.

“Any truth to what he said?”

“We’re still determining the validity of his statements.”

“Forget the validity!” Strauss said back. “The press is having a field day from what they saw just now. Even if there was no collusion, if he just sat back and did nothing, that’s just as bad.”

“We’re doing our best,” Hotchner assured her. “I don’t blame John Zachary for being angry.”

“He might be angry at the local police,” Strauss said, “but make sure he doesn’t direct it at us. The man is a politician. Just find the persons responsible for the murders.” With that, she hung up the phone.

Hotchner went into the chief’s office, where Caplan, Rossi, and J.J. were.

“I’m telling you I don’t know what he’s talking about!” Caplan insisted. 

“So you have no idea why he would make an accusation like that?” J.J. asked.

“He’s just been pissed at me because I wouldn’t pick up after his kid!” 

Rossi asked, “Is that so?”

“He wanted me to clean up after his daughter,” Caplan said. “The girl was a handful. We’ve busted Kim a couple of times for drunk and disorderly in town. Her father asked me to let it go, and I wouldn’t do it. Even tried to shake my hand with a couple of one hundred dollar bills, but I threatened to charge him with bribery. The D and D charges have stayed on her record. He hasn’t exactly forgotten that.”

“There still has to be more to this than not wanting to clean up after her,” Hotchner said.

“And in the meantime,” Rossi said, “our unsub is still out there.”

In the main foyer of the police station, Morgan, Reid, and Prentiss, were talking with congressman Zachary. Not only was he upset that his daughter was murdered by indifference, he wasn’t too happy being in the police station.

“My daughter is getting gutted by some psycho, and he told his officers not to go to answer the call!” he angrily said. “I’m suing this whole damn department for wrongful death!”

“You can do whatever you want,” Morgan said. “But what proof do you have of Caplan’s role in all this?”

“This!” Zachary pulled out of his pocket a compact disc in its glass sleeve. “A recording of my daughter’s call to the police.” He handed the disc to Prentiss.

“What did you do?” Prentiss asked. “Bug the phones of the police station?”

“No, but I have my security team monitor my daughter’s cell phone calls,” Zachary replied. “Find out who she was talking to and if they’re going to be a problem down the line. She had no idea.”

“That’s very Big Brother of you,” Reid said disapprovingly.

“I know that it’s wrong, but Kimberly can do – I mean, did – some really stupid things.”

“Things that you tried to get ahead of and keep out of the papers?” asked Morgan.

Zachary nodded. “I know I’m not exactly father of the year material,” he said, “but Kim wasn’t exactly Little Miss Perfect either. I gave her Caplan’s direct number for if she ever got into trouble. I see now that was a mistake.”

“I don’t like what you did,” Prentiss said, “eavesdropping on your daughter.”

“Wait until you hear what that bastard said and did. Or didn’t do.” With that, Zachary left the building.

“Let’s see what she had to say,” Prentiss said, holding up the disc.

****************************************

Hotchner placed the CD in the disc player and pushed the PLAY button. All the agents and Chief Caplan listened inside the conference room. The second voice was that of the Kim Zachary.

_“Temple Hill police.”_  
_“HELP! HE’S KILLING US! HE’S – “_  
_“Who is this?”_  
_“FOR GOD’S SAKE, GET OVER HERE! HE’S KILLING EVERYONE HERE! HE’S A FREAKING PSYCHO!”_  
_“Who is this?”_  
_“THEY’RE ALL DEAD! GET OVER HERE NOW! I’M AT – “_  
_“Is this some kind of joke?”_  
_“NO IT’S NOT! MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD!”_  
_“Is this a joke? Because if it is, I’m not laughing– “_  
_“ARE YOU SERIOUS! THERE’S SOME PSYCHO HERE – “_  
_“Look, I have no time for practical jokes! I’m sick of all you college kids making these calls! Especially tonight! Goodbye!”_

When the recording was done, everyone in the room looked at Caplan. The chief of police looked like he was about to explode.

“That wasn’t me!” Caplan insisted.

“You’re right,” Reid said. “That’s not you on the phone. Your tone is a little higher. This person’s inflection sounds a little rougher.”

Morgan quickly dialed up Garcia back in Quantico. “Baby girl, we need a time on a phone call from Thursday night.”

“What’s the phone number?” she asked. Morgan gave her the phone number of Chief Caplan’s direct line.

“There were tons of call to the police station,” Garcia said, “but only a few to this number. Okay, there were calls between seven and eleven o’clock.”

“Time of the murder was between nine thirty and ten o’clock,” Morgan said.

“There was one call to that number at nine thirty-five,” Garcia said. She rattled off the phone number where it originated from.

Rossi checked the notes from the case. “The phone number matches Kim Zachary’s cell phone.”

“Okay, she called here,” J.J. said. “But who answered the phone?”

Caplan responded, “I know.” He opened the door of the conference room. “BORLAND!” he bellowed. “GET IN HERE!”

His desk sergeant, John Borland, came into the conference room. “What’s up, Chief?” he asked.

Morgan pushed play on the CD player. The frantic plea for help from Kim Zachary echoed through the conference room, as the agents and Chief Caplan looked at Borland as he listened. When the tape was over, it was a question of who was going to lay into Borland first.

Caplan finally asked Borland, “What the hell was that?” 

“A prank phone call, that’s what,” Borland replied.

“A prank call from a girl was later found butchered to death,” Hotchner said.

“Was that when I came back into my office?” Caplan asked. “When you said there was a wrong number on the line?”

Upon hearing that, Borland looked like he had stepped into a pile big time.

“I didn’t know,” he insisted.

“Say that again?” Rossi asked, resisting the urge to hit Borland.

“I didn’t know,” Borland said again. “I thought it was a prank call.”

“A prank call?” Hotchner was beginning to boil over as well. “Six people get murdered and you thought it was a prank?”

“Yes, I thought it was a prank call!” Borland returned. “We had a ton of prank calls on Halloween. We get a call, go out there, and there’s nothing! And the calls come from a bunch of drunk college kids who have nothing else better to do!”

“I hope that’s not what you’re going to say to the victim’s families,” Prentiss said angrily.

“What the hell do you want me to say?” Borland said back. “I thought it was a prank call! A gag! A practical joke!”

Morgan walked right up to Borland, really resisting the temptation to deck him right then and there.

“Six kids are dead,” he said angrily, just inches from his face. “Do you see anybody here laughing?”


	7. Chapter 7

The agents left Chief Caplan and Sergeant Borland alone in the conference room and closed the door behind them. For the next five minutes, the room shook as inside, Caplan was reading the riot act to Borland for his dereliction and his indifference. 

After that, Borland left the room and eventually left the building. His badge and service weapon were on the table in the conference room.

“He’s suspended indefinitely,” Caplan told the agents.

The agents reassembled in the conference room, as Caplan went back to his office with Borland’s badge and gun. A violent mass murder had been compounded by the indifference of one police officer, and the agents were now in the middle of not only the murder case, but also a public relations nightmare.

“So now what?” asked Morgan. “This town’s going to be definitely on edge, especially the college students. They’re not going to trust anyone with a badge.”

“We proceed as we always do,” Hotchner said. “We have an unsub to catch. We’ve dealt with an uncooperative public before.”

“College kids might be a whole different story,” said J.J., “since they probably know now about what happened.”

“We’ll deal with it as it comes,” Hotchner said.

A couple of hours later, J.J. delivered a statement to the press outside the police station, stating that the FBI and the Temple Hill police are continuing the murder investigation. Questions asked about the accusations made by John Zachary were deflected, as she emphasized the focus of the investigation would be on solving the case.

In the meantime, Hotchner and Rossi found Zachary and his staff staying at a nearby hotel. They met inside the lobby of the hotel, and the agents informed them of what happened with the call to the police. 

“My daughter is dead because some desk cop was having a bad night?!” Zachary angrily said. “I want that cop’s head!”

“Chief Caplan already has it,” Rossi said. 

That seemed to placate Zachary. “So, what now?” he asked. 

“We continue on,” Hotchner said. “We have reason to believe that your daughter was the target of the killer and the other victims were collateral damage. Do you know anyone who would like to hurt your daughter?”

“A lot of people,” a younger man responded, as he came up to Zachary.

“This is my son, Keith,” Zachary said to the agents. 

“A lot of people hated Kim,” Keith Zachary said. “And that’s an understatement.”

“Keith – “

“I’m sorry, dad, but they might as well know,” Keith continued. “Kim was just a stuck up girl. I’m sorry to speak ill of the dead, but she was. She would date guys that looked like they just got out of prison. If a nice guy asked her out, she’d send one of those goons to make sure they didn’t ask her out a second time.” 

“Mean girl, right?” asked Hotchner.

“Another understatement,” Keith said. “The only friends she had in the world were in that sorority, and I even have trouble believing that, especially since Dana Brenner was there as well.”

“Her father is a pastor from Washington DC,” Zachary said. “He publicly backed my opponent in the last election.”

“We met him,” Rossi said. “Dana is the lone survivor of the murders.”

“Dana was there?” Keith exclaimed. “What was she doing there?”

“Avoiding getting killed by our unsub,” Hotchner said. “She may be our only witness as well.”

“You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if Kim was the cause of all this,” Keith said. “She had this way of pissing people off, and she just didn’t care.”

“Maybe so,” Hotchner said back. “But no one deserves to die the way she did.”

******************************

Rossi and Hotchner returned to the police station, as the other agents were going over reports and evidence from the crime scene.

“We just got preliminary reports from the coroner,” J.J. said. “All the victims were killed with the same weapon, the knife buried in Chris Murray’s chest.”

“We got a forensic report,” Prentiss added. “No usable prints on the murder weapon.”

“We’ve read the interviews with the friends of the victims,” Reid said. “They had no idea what was going on, and they had no idea what was going on at the crime scene.”

“Other than that,” Morgan said, “everything is at a standstill.”

“We called the hospital for an update,” Prentiss added. “Dana Brenner is still unconscious.” 

“Garcia is compiling a list of rejected pledges from the fraternities,” Morgan said. “But that list could run into the thousands.”

“So, what’s our next move?” Reid asked.

“After what happened with the press conference and Zachary’s accusations,” Hotchner said, “we should give this a rest until morning. Give time for the town and the campus to settle down.”

The agents agreed. Considering they had been going since six that morning, they could all use the rest. The agents informed Chief Caplan of their plan and all went out to find a hotel and settle in for the rest of the night.

******************************

At the hospital, the Brenners stepped outside their daughter’s room, as the policeman was standing guard at the door. The media had converged on the hospital to see the survivor of the massacre but could get no closer than the downstairs lobby.

A young man approached the Brenners in the hallway. He asked them, “Excuse me, may I please see Dana?” 

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Brenner said. “But no one but family and her doctors are allowed to see her.”

“I understand,” the young man said. “Just let her know that I came by to see how she was doing.”

“She’s stable,” Mrs. Brenner said. “And you are?”

“Tom Davies. I have a class with her at the college.”

“We’ll let her know.”

“Thanks.” Tom Davies turned and left via the elevator. As he did, another young man made a cell phone call.

“Eric, guess who was just here.”

“Who?”

“Nature boy.”

“Really? I wonder what he wants.”

“Probably just to see how she was doing. She’s still not awake.”

“We’re still good. Keep me updated.”


	8. Chapter 8

Saturday morning dawned, and the agents headed back to the police station at 9 a.m., only to find out the front of the building was blocked by picketers. Over a thousand people, mostly college students, were in front of police headquarters. Some held picket signs demanding the resignation of Chief Caplan for his supposed inaction he took against finding the murderer at Maryland State University, not caring that Sergeant Borland had already been suspended from the force.

“I was afraid this was going to happen,” Morgan said, as the agents made their way through the crowd to the front door. “No one’s going to trust anyone with a badge now.”

The agents entered the police station, and went to the conference room, where Chief Caplan was waiting.

“Sorry about that,” Caplan said. “Democracy in action.”

“The downside of the right to peaceful assembly,” Reid said. “Sometimes, it’s not peaceful.”

“So, what’s the plan of action?” Rossi asked.

“We go to the college,” Hotchner replied. “Talk to the friends of the victims.”

“What if they don’t want to talk to us?” J.J. replied. 

“We’ll just have to convince them it’s in their best interests,” Hotchner replied.

Morgan’s cell phone rang. “What’s up baby girl?” he asked.

“A list of rejected pledges from Omega Theta Xi over the past four years,” Garcia replied. “They’re very secretive, not only on who they keep but who they kick out as well.”

“What about students or people who registered complaints against Theta Xi?” asked Prentiss.

“I compiled a list of them as well,” Garcia replied. “But it’s a long list."

“Let’s cut it down,” Prentiss said. “Match those on the reject list with those who lodged complaints against them."

“Give me a few seconds,” Garcia said over the phone. A few seconds later, she announced, “Done! On its way.”

The agents checked their phones and iPads. A shorter list, six names, all on campus.

“Thanks, sweetness,” Morgan said.

************************

The agents split up for their on campus interviews. Morgan and Hotchner would head to the Omega Theta Xi fraternity, while Prentiss and J.J. would go to the Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority. Rossi and Reid would talk to the students who had lodged complaints against the Omega Theta Xi.

There were six students who had lodged complaints against the Omega Theta Xi, all male. All six lived in the dorms on campus and all had said the same thing – OTX was the worst house on campus. They had run ins with them, ranging from physical intimidation to verbal abuse. The Omegas didn’t like it when they didn’t get their way, and even less when somebody bad mouthed them. 

But all six had a couple of things in common: One, none of them fit the profile, two, all of them had alibis for the murders, and three, none of them were made to walk naked back to the dorms from Greek Row.

Rossi and Reid got the name of that particular student from the others and headed to his dorm room. En route, Reid said that earlier, Garcia had mentioned the case when digging up info on Omega Theta Xi.

The two of them arrived at the dorm room in question and knocked on the door. 

The door opened slightly. A scruffy haired young man peaked through the crack. “Yes?”

Rossi and Reid held up their identification. “FBI,” Rossi said. “Are you Tom Davies?”

The door opened all the way. “Come on in."

The agents entered. It looked like the typical college dorm room – a mess.

“What can I do for you?” Tom asked.

“We’d like to talk to you about the Omega Theta Xi fraternity?” Rossi asked.

“Do I have a choice?” 

“We know you don’t like them,” Reid said. “You and everybody else on campus it seems.”

“Just a bunch of drunks spending their parents’ money for nothing,” Tom said. “They think they own everything on campus.”

“You know about what happened last night?” Rossi asked. “The murders?”

“I know,” Tom replied. “Karma, if you ask me.”

“We know all about them making you walk back naked to the dorm,” Reid said.

“Why did they do that to you?” Rossi asked.

Tom looked disgusted. It was obviously a sore subject for him.

“They thought I shouldn’t like girls,” Tom finally replied. “Especially the ones from Kappa Delta.”

“You liked a girl from there?” Rossi asked.

“Dana Brenner,” he replied. “We have an English class together. We’re just friends. I just went by to say ‘Hi’ to her, but the guys next door took exception to it.”

He seemed flushed, but Tom forced himself to finish the story. “I went by to see her, but she wasn’t there. I turned to leave but the next thing I know, I get grabbed and hauled between the houses. I think one of them hit me. Then I find myself back out but I’m naked.”

“You don’t have to say anymore,” Reid said, feeling this guy’s pain.

“I know they got hit with probation and all, but it wasn’t enough,” Tom said. Reid glanced down at Tom’s hands. He could make slight bruising on the right hand.

“What happened to your hand?” Reid asked.

Tom looked down at his hand. “Hit a wall,” he replied. 

Rossi quickly sized up Tom Davies. Five-seven, about a hundred fifty pounds, if that. A little wiry. “Was that Thursday night? Halloween?”

“No,” Tom quickly replied. “Why? You think I killed all those people?”

“You had reason to,” Rossi said.

“Dorm had a Halloween party, so I stayed here,” Tom said. “Look at me, do I look like a psycho to you?”

“You’d be amazed who can be a murderer,” Reid said.

“I didn’t kill anybody,” Tom insisted.

“Okay, thanks for your time,” Rossi said. The two agents left the dorm room.

Outside the dormitory, Reid said to Rossi, “I noticed his right hand was bruised.”

“So did I,” Rossi said. “Could he be our unsub?”

“All he did was say hi to a sorority girl,” Reid said, “and they told him to stay away in their own way. I’d be pretty upset too.”

“But he didn’t look like much physically.”

“Humiliation can release a lot of anger and rage.”

Rossi and Reid talked to a couple of students in the dorm before they left. They asked about the Halloween party that night. Yes, they had one and it was awesome, they said. But they also said that they couldn’t swear that Tim was there at the time the murders happened.

As they walked away, Tom Davies looked out his dorm window at them. Unbeknownst to either of them, someone else was watching the agents as well.

*******************************

The Omega Theta Xi fraternity and the Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority were situated right next to each other on Greek Row. Morgan, Hotchner, Prentiss, and J.J. got out of the SUV and walked up to the neighboring houses.

“Me and J.J. will talk to the sorority girls,” Prentiss said. 

“Why can’t I talk to the girls?” Morgan jokingly asked.

“We’ll never see you again,” J.J. responded.

A couple of young men came out of the Omega house. They looked about as big as the house itself and were not in a good mood.

“Where do you think you’re going?” one of them demanded. He was about six feet tall and dark haired. The other one was just as big, with his blond hair in a crew cut.

The agents showed them their identification. “We’re here to talk to your friends about what happened Halloween,” Hotchner replied. “Step aside.”

“The hell you are!” the dark haired one snapped, stepping in front of them.

“You don’t want to do that,” Prentiss advised.

The blond looked at J.J. leeringly. “You on the other hand, you’re welcome to come to our house,” he said, as his hand reached out to touch J.J., but she could see where it was headed. She quickly grabbed his hand and twisted it around. The torque on his arm made him wince as he buckled to the ground on his knees.

“We’re here to talk to you about your friends,” Morgan said to them. “It’s not a question.” The blond goon began to turn five shades of red, as J.J. continued her hold on him.

“You can let him go,” someone called out. The agents looked over to Kappa sorority house. A young blonde-haired woman, was on the steps.

J.J. let go, and the Omega house goon breathed a sigh of relief. Her and Prentiss went over to the Kappa house and Morgan and Hotchner went over to the Omega house.


	9. Chapter 9

“Sorry about that,” the young woman said as J.J. and Prentiss came up to the Kappa house. “Everyone here is a little on edge.”

“So I see,” Prentiss said. 

“I’m Susan Cutler, head of the sorority. And you are?”

J.J. and Prentiss showed her their identification.

“FBI, figures,” Susan said. She led the agents to the living room. Some other girls were there, but Susan had them leave to give them privacy. “People here on campus don’t trust the cops, so they called in the feds.”

“Something like that,” J.J. said. “But don’t blame the police for what happened. It was a communications breakdown because of one person.”

“We can’t imagine what this campus is going through,” Prentiss said.

“Well, here it is,” Susan said. “This whole campus is freaked out. A couple of people I know are packing up and leaving. Their parents are picking them up, no questions asked. They don’t want to be the next victim of a campus psycho. Then there’s the cops here, who think we’re the cause of all the problems in town because someone got drunk and pissed on someone’s lawn. Now, a bunch of college kids get gutted by some nut case and the cops don’t lift a finger to help.

“Aside from that,” she concluded, “we’re all just fine.”

“No one deserves to be killed,” Prentiss said, “no matter what. That’s why we’re here.”

“How’s Dana?”

“She fine,” J.J. replied. “Unconscious but alive.”

“That’s good to know. Some of us tried to see her, but the guards on her room won’t let us.”

“We’d like to ask you a few questions,” Prentiss said. “So, do you know anybody who might want to do this?”

“I don’t know,” Susan said. 

“We have reason to believe that maybe your sorority sister Kim was the target of our unsub,” J.J. said. “We know that Kim wasn’t a nice person and she probably made a lot of enemies.”

“That would be an understatement,” Susan replied.

“You two weren’t friends?”

“Sorority sisters, yes. Friends? Please. We just put up with each other.”

Prentiss asked, “What about you and Dana?”

“Dana, she’s sweet,” Susan replied, “but I don’t think she fit in here, with her daddy being a minister. I know her mom used to be a Kappa, and that makes her a legacy. Still, there are some things Dana wouldn’t do.”

“Such as?”

“Well, for starters, drink,” Susan replied. “That, I get. But there were other things that she wouldn’t do, anything close to wild or rowdy. Said it went against her personal beliefs.”

“What was Dana’s relationship with Kim?” Prentiss asked.

“Kim put up with Dana, but she began to really want her out of the sorority,” Susan replied. “She thought Dana was too much of a good girl to be here. It really got bad last month after that boy came by and got ambushed by the Omegas.”

“Tom Davies?” 

“He was just some guy in one of her classes. But the Omegas saw him, grabbed him, and made him walk away naked. They didn’t want him around Greek Row. When Donna found out, she was upset. Kim thought it was funny. Heck, it was her idea.”

“She told the Omegas to do that to Tom Davies?” J.J. asked.

“She didn’t like boys from the dorm asking out girls from Greek Row,” Shannon said. 

“We heard that’s what got Omega house on probation.”

“And us too. From what I understand, campus security came by and asked everyone about what happened. Donna said something to them, and the next thing you know, we’re both on probation.”

“Maybe that’s why Kim wanted Dana out of the sorority,” Prentiss said to J.J. “She ratted them out.” She then said to Susan, “We understand Dana was dating Chris Murray, who wasn’t in a frat.”

“The Omegas threatened him once,” Shannon said. “Once. One of the Omegas got into his face about it, and Chris decked him. After that, they let him be. They didn’t like it, but they let him be.” 

“About Halloween,” J.J, said, “what do you remember about that night?”

“Well, we were all in costume by six, and everyone was drinking by seven,” Susan recalled. “I was a cowgirl, Kim was the devil, and Dana was an angel. I think Chris was taking Dana to another Halloween party, but she was getting sick. Chris showed up, but I didn’t know where Dana was. I didn’t know what happened after that until I heard she was in the hospital.”

“She wasn’t sick,” J.J. said. “Someone roofied her.”

Susan’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh, my god!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea!” Prentiss and J.J. studied her reaction. She was telling the truth.

“We think that someone slipped her RHP, probably here at your party, then took her to the house, where everyone got killed except her,” Prentiss said. “Does it sound like something Kim would do?”

“No, but I wouldn’t put it past her,” Susan said. “Like I said, Kim and Dana didn’t exactly get along. Dana tried but Kim wasn’t willing to meet her halfway. Kim thinks ‘abstinence’ is a dirty word.”

“Maybe one of the Omegas?” asked J.J.

“I can see one of them doing it,” Susan replied.

********************************************

Hotchner and Morgan entered the Omega Theta Xi house. The goon whose hand got twisted by J.J. walked past them, still wincing in pain. A couple of more Omega boys came out of the living room.

“Where’s your fraternity president?” Hotchner asked. The Omegas pointed towards the living room.

The two agents walked in. There was a single man, sitting on a sofa, a beer can in his hand.

“A little early for Budweiser, don’t you think?” Morgan said.

The Omega president looked at Morgan. “It’s never too early,” he said. “Besides, we don’t have any Schlitz Malt Liquor.” 

If he was trying to bait Morgan, it wasn’t working. Morgan just glared at him. “Are you the Omega president?” he asked.

“That’s me,” he said, getting up from the sofa. “Eric Peterson at your service.” He was about as tall as both agents, but already buzzed. “What do you guys want?”

“FBI,” Hotchner said, as he and Morgan showed their identification and badges.

“Figures,” Peterson said. “Cops screw up big time, and they call the feds.”

“We’d like to ask you a few questions about your friends,” Hotchner said. 

“Such as?”

“Do you have any idea who killed them?” asked Morgan.

“Aside from the cops not caring? Nope.”

“What were they doing at that abandoned house?” Hotchner asked.

“From what I can tell, they were having some fun,” Peterson replied. “That’s what we’re all doing.” He took a swig of beer from the can, then tossed it towards a small wastebasket. It careened off the edge of the basket and fell onto the floor. 

“So how come you weren’t up there?” Morgan asked.

“I was going to be up there,” Peterson replied. “But I got held up. Good thing that I did.”

Yeah, I bet, Morgan thought.

“You know, you better find the guy who did this to my friends,” Peterson said, “before me and the rest of the house does.”

“Is that so?” Hotchner asked.

“We Omegas take care of our own. If we find this guy first, we’ll make sure he doesn’t do it again.”

“Then we’ll be arresting you for murder,” Morgan said. “Or attending your funeral.”

“So, you’re taking care of your own,” Hotchner said. “Tell me, how is making someone walk naked back to his dorm taking care of your own.”

Peterson looked at the agents. “He didn’t belong here,” he replied. “One of the Kappas asked us to get him to leave, so we did. In our own way.”

“And now you’re on probation,” Morgan said. “Good move.”

“Hey, some people aren’t meant to be Omegas. And the Kappa girls only want to date other frat guys. That’s how it is.” 

“Even Dana Brenner?”

“She didn’t belong,” Peterson said. “She’s the reason why we got hit with probation. So did the Kappas. Even they didn’t like her.”

“So what did you try to do about it?” Hotchner demanded.

“What do you mean?”

“She was the sole survivor of what happened. Four of your fellow Omegas and one Kappa is dead. So is Dana’s boyfriend. I don’t know what you tried to do, but someone didn’t like it.”

Peterson looked at the agents. It was obvious he was trying not to say something that could get him arrested. Finally, he said, “Hey, it was Halloween. Things happen. Look, I don’t know who killed my fellow frat brothers but if we find him first, we’ll be doing you guys and everyone here on campus a big favor.”

That was all that Hotchner and Morgan were going to get out of him. They knew if Peterson knew what was going on at the abandoned house, he would be hanging himself and taking the rest of the Omega house with him.

“Thank you,” Hotchner said. Both agents left the house.


	10. Chapter 10

It was mid-afternoon when the agents reconvened at the police station to compare notes.

“The Omegas knew what was going on,” Hotchner said to the other agents inside the conference room. “They just can’t say so. They do, they know their house can lose their charter and some of them could go to jail.”

“That’s the least of their problems,” Morgan said. “I doubt that everyone in that house knew about it.”

“Me and J.J. got the impression that the Kappas didn’t know what was going on,” Prentiss said. “Kim definitely knew. If one of the other Kappas knew, they kept it from Susan.”

“We talked to some of the students who lodged complaints against the Omegas,” Rossi said, “but none of them fit the profile.”

“Maybe Tom Davies,” Reid chipped in. “After the way he was humiliated, I can see him going after the Omegas.”

“He didn’t look like much,” Rossi said. 

“Neither did Johnny McHale,” Reid said, “and look what he did.” They all remembered the comic book artist from Los Angeles who, four years ago, killed over a dozen gang members in retaliation for the rape and murder of his fiancée.

“Point taken,” Morgan said. “But if the Omegas even suspect him, maybe we can bring him in.”

“On what charge?” J.J. asked. “There’s no evidence linking him to the crime.”

“And if we did bring him in,” Rossi said, “it might alert the Omegas that something is up.”

Morgan dialed up Garcia on his phone. “Speak and be recognized,” she said from Quantico.

“Need some info on some people, baby girl,” he said. “Eric Peterson, a student here at Maryland State and a member of the Omega Theta Xi fraternity.”

“Your command is my wish,” Garcia said. Ten seconds later, she said, “Eric Peterson has been a very bad boy. Before he graduated high school in Baltimore, he was arrested three times for assault, because he didn’t like other guys talking to his girlfriend, who is now his ex-girlfriend. Also, an arrest last year for DUI. Had a football scholarship to University of Maryland but lost it because of his arrests.”

“What about Susan Cutler?” J.J. asked.

More typing from Quantico. “Susan Cutler, her family is old money,” replied Garcia. “Real estate in and around Bethesda. No red flags, never in trouble with the law.”

Reid said, “Okay, try Tom Davies.”

More typing. “Tom Davies is from Hagerstown. Good family, father works at the Navy Yard in D.C.” There was a pause. “Wait up…there’s a police report. According to this, when he was fifteen, he was questioned in the death of a classmate. A boy named Mike Kinney was found dead at the bottom of a hill near their high school. There was a laceration on victim’s side from the fall.”

“He was a murder suspect?” Rossi asked.

“Police concluded the fall was an accident,” Garcia said. “Apparently, Kinney was bullying Davies after school one day and Davies got away from him, and he told his parents. They found Kinney a couple of hours later, but he was already dead. Davies said he was alive when he got away. Police closed the case.”

“Red flag?” Prentiss asked.

“Maybe,” Reid said. “Like I told Rossi, maybe being humiliated by the Omegas set something off in him.” 

Morgan thanked Garcia for the information, just as the door to the conference room opened up. Chief Caplan popped his head inside.

“Just thought you’d like to know,” he said, “we’re putting extra patrols on campus tonight.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Hotchner said. 

Caplan came inside. “Any progress?”

“Well, some,” Hotchner replied. “I think we now know what happened in that house that night.”

“Fill me in.”

“From what we gathered, we think that Kim Zachary tried to have Dana Brenner run out of the sorority,” Hotchner said. “She arranged that little get together at the house with some of the Omegas.”

“What were they going to do to her?” Caplan asked. “Sacrifice her?”

Prentiss said, “No. They were going to rape her.”

The look on Caplan’s face was indescribable.

“It looked like a demonic sacrifice,” Prentiss explained, “but in truth, they were setting up Dana Brenner to be raped, so Kim Zachary could get her out of the sorority. She was hoping that the experience would humiliate her and she would leave the sorority. That’s why she was dosed with rohipnol.”

“So, what went wrong?” Caplan asked.

“Our unsub found out and guessed what was going on,” Rossi replied. “He got to the house, and killed everyone inside, including Kim, saving his rage for her.”

“So the killer left Dana Brenner alive on purpose,” Caplan surmised.

“He was trying to wake her up or get her out of there when her boyfriend Chris showed up,” J.J. said. “He thought the unsub was trying to finish her off, got into a fight, and Chris got killed for it.”

“If the Omegas were behind this, why not go and arrest them for attempted rape?” 

“Right now, it’s their word against ours,” Hotchner replied. “There’s no direct evidence to implicate them. Besides, they’re interested in who killed their friends and Kim. Finding the unsub is our priority.”

“Find him, and maybe we can nail the Omega house,” Caplan said.

“But if the Omegas find him first,” Rossi said, “they’ll kill him to keep their secret.”

“Or they’ll end up dead themselves,” said Reid.

“Do you think they know who it is?” J.J. asked.

“Wouldn’t surprise us if they knew or at least have some idea,” Morgan replied.

The door to the conference room opened up. An officer said something to Caplan, then left.

“Good news,” Caplan said to the agents. “The hospital just called. Dana Brenner just regained consciousness.”

*****************************

Rossi, Reid, Prentiss, and J.J. headed to the hospital, as Hotchner and Morgan stayed at the police station and went through the evidence and police reports.

It was close to five o’clock, as the sun was beginning to set that November afternoon, as they arrived at the hospital. They went straight to Dana Brenner’s room, where her parents were still at her bedside. But now, Dana was now propped up on the bed, awake and aware of her surroundings.

Reid asked the doctor in charge, “How is she?”

The doctor replied, “Still a little groggy, but fine.”

“We need to ask her some questions.”

“Go ahead but be careful.”

The agents introduced themselves to Dana. Prentiss stepped up to the bedside. “How are you feeling?” she asked Dana.

“I’m feeling okay,” Dana replied.

“Do you have any idea what happened to you?” Reid asked.

“Everything is kind of fuzzy. I want to remember what happened, but at the same time….” 

“That’s understandable.”

“What do you remember?” Rossi asked.

“Well, it was our house Halloween party,” Dana replied. “I got into my costume, but Chris was going to pick me up and we were going to an off campus harvest party.”

“Harvest party?” asked J.J.

“It’s a Halloween celebration except no one dresses up as anything demonic or evil. Anyway, I got dressed and was waiting for Chris. I had a drink or two of Coke. Then, I began to feel sick. I tried to call Chris but I couldn’t stay awake.”

“You were drugged,” Reid said. “Rohipnol.”

“Oh my God,” Mr. Brenner quietly said.

“Keep going,” Rossi said.

Dana said, “I tried to stay awake, but I couldn’t. The next thing I remember, I was being helped into a car by Kim and Brandy.”

“Brandy who?” J.J. asked.

“Brandy Harrison,” Dana replied. She looked at the agents. “What happened to Kim?”

“She’s dead,” Rossi said. “Her and some guys from the Omega fraternity.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault,” said Prentiss.

“Dana, from what the police told us,” said Rossi, “they heard you scream inside the house. You must have regained consciousness for a bit. Do you remember that?”

Dana looked down at her bedsheet, trying to jog her memory. The RHP may have caused short term amnesia. Like she said, she wanted to remember but at the same time…

“I kind of remember waking up,” she said. 

“Okay, let’s try this,” Rossi said. “Close your eyes.” Dana nodded. She closed her eyes. 

“You’re in the house,” Rossi said. “It’s Halloween. Now, you’re awake. What do you see?”

Dana remembered back to Halloween night inside the house….

_She tried to sit up but she was too groggy. She didn’t know where she was. It was dark, but there was light inside. There was a full moon outside, shining its light into the room._

_There was someone standing was over he. He had a mask on. A skull, a death mask. He was looking at her._

_Then there was somebody else. He was yelling at the other person. They got into an argument. They started hitting each other. One of them got into the light. It was Chris. He slugged the other person in the mask. The other person hit him back. There was something shiny in his hand._

_Chris slugged him again. Then the other person swung back. Chris fell down. Something else too. Chris just lay there, something sticking out of him…A knife. There was something next to him. The mask. It fell off the other person._

_That person turned around and…._

Dana opened her eyes and cried out. 

“Dana, what is it?” Reid asked.

“I saw him!” Dana said.

“Who?” Prentiss asked.

Dana tried to say the name. Instead, she said, “How could he do this?”

“Dana, who did you see?” Rossi demanded.

“Enough!” Mr. Brenner snapped. “She’s had enough!”

J.J. said, “Dana, who was it?”

Dana was gasping, trying to get the words out. Finally, she said, “It was Tom! Tom Davies!”

**************************

Tom Davies looked through the basement of the place he was in. 

There was a lot of clutter here, not much had been moved around since the turn of the century, as decades of house life were boxed up, around old pieces of furniture. He had sneaked into the house without any notice. The entrance was at the back, leading downstairs to the basement. All the houses here were designed like that. There was also some old tools inside here as well, as the place seemingly doubled as a tool shed.

He looked at the tools he could work with. Gardening shears, gardening scythes, rakes, backhoes…then he saw what he was hoping for. He picked it up by the long wooden handle. The blade at the other end was old, but heavy and attached. He could handle it well, and it wouldn’t take much to use. All he had to do was swing before they could do anything about it.

He stepped back into the shadows, waiting for his victim to come down from upstairs. Hopefully, it would be Eric Peterson. But any of the Omegas would do.


	11. Chapter 11

J.J. was quickly on the phone to Hotchner and Morgan back at the police station, relaying the information about Tom Davies being the unsub. 

Soon enough, the rest of them were headed to Maryland State University, to aid in the search for Davies. 

Their SUV parked in front of the dorm where Davies lived, as darkness began to settle over the campus.

Rossi and Reid went inside the dorm where Davies lived. They went right to his dorm room, but in the hallway in front of his room, a couple of students were helping up another student.

“What happened here?” Rossi asked.

One of the students replied, “A couple of guys were here looking for Tom Davies. They weren’t too happy when I told them he wasn’t here. They shoved me around and asked again, and I told them the same thing.”

Another student said, “They just left. And if you want to know where Tom is, we don’t know either. He took off half an hour ago.”

“Thanks,” Reid said. Soon, the two agents were back outside.

Around the corner from them, someone made a call on his cell phone.

“Hey, Eric, it’s Deke,” he said. “The feds are here. I think something’s up. I think they’re looking for Davies and – “

“Excuse me,” Reid said, as he reached for the phone. “Is that an antique cell phone you’re using?”

Deke tried to push Reid away, but Rossi grabbed the phone out of his hand. “I think it is,” Rossi said.

“Give me that back!” Deke snapped, reaching for Rossi. But the senior agent knocked his arm away.

“Have you been spying on us?” Rossi demanded. “Letting the Omegas know what’s been going on?”

“I want a lawyer!” Deke said. A couple of Temple Hill police cars pulled up and officers got out.

“Good idea,” Rossi said. “And while you’re at it, get a new phone.” He tossed the phone into the nearest trash can. 

The officers arrested and took Deke into custody. Rossi instructed two officers to stay behind in case Tom Davies returned to the dorms, as he and Reid got back into the SUV.

“Hotch and Morgan are headed to the Omega Theta Xi house,” J.J. told them. The SUV headed to Greek Row and parked in front of the Kappa Delta house. Seconds later, the other SUV with Hotchner and Morgan arrived, now wearing their bulletproof kevlar vests, along with a couple of more police cars.

All six agents headed to the Omega Theta Xi house. A couple of Omegas came out, not looking too happy.

“What the hell you want?” one of them demanded.

“We have an arrest warrant for Eric Peterson,” Hotchner announced, holding up the warrant, “on charges of attempted rape and criminal conspiracy.”

“That’s crap!”

“Where is he?” Morgan demanded.

“Don’t know,” the other Omega goon said, “and we wouldn’t tell you if we did.” He didn’t sound convincing.

“You want to go down for criminal conspiracy as well?” Morgan asked. “Fine.”

Out of the Kappa house came Susan Cutler. “What’s going on?” she asked.

J.J. replied to her, “We’re looking for Eric Peterson and Tom Davies. Have you seen either of them?”

“No,” Susan said. “What’s this all about?”

“We found out who killed Kim and the Omegas,” Rossi replied, “as well as what was going on at that house when they were killed.”

“I know what happened at the house,” Susan said. “I’ve been talking with Brandy Harrison. Apparently, she roofied Dana at Kim’s request.” That was another piece of the puzzle for the agents. 

“We know why,” Prentiss said. “Kim wanted Dana out of the sorority.”

“Well, I just told Brandy she’s out of the sorority,” Susan said. “But who killed Kim and the others?”

“Tom Davies,” Morgan replied. 

“Him?” one of the Omegas said. “That wuss?”

“That wuss killed six people, including some of your friends,” Morgan said to him. “And if you don’t tell us where Eric Peterson is, he’s gonna make it seven.”

“Seriously?”

“Humiliation can make anyone do anything for revenge, including murder,” Rossi said.

“Last chance,” Hotchner said to the Omegas, “where’s Eric Peterson?”

One of them finally said, “He’s downstairs in the basement. Said he wanted to get something.”

Hotchner pulled out his Glock 17 service weapon off his hip holster. “Evacuate that house,” he ordered. “Morgan, you and me will go get Peterson.”

“There’s a back door to the basement,” Susan said. “Each house has them. There’s also another entrance inside the house.” 

Uniformed officers went inside the Omega house and ordered the fraternity brothers out. As they did, Hotchner went inside to the stairwell leading to the basement, while Morgan went around back to the other basement entrance with a couple of more police officers.

Morgan saw the back entrance, with its double doors. It was a storm cellar opening leading downward. But one of the doors had already been opened.

**************************************

Hotchner went down the stairs and slowly opened the door with his left hand, his service weapon in his right hand pointed forward. 

Once inside the basement, Hotchner put both hands on his Glock and looked around. The place was cluttered with boxes and other assorted junk from days gone by, along with a couple of metallic beer kegs. 

“Eric Peterson,” he announced, “we have a warrant for your arrest.” He took two steps inside.

“NO!” someone yelled out, followed by a loud sound of someone crashing into something.

Hotchner saw Peterson, twenty feet in front of him, a baseball bat in his hand. But he was simultaneously falling down and trying to stay on his feet, knocking down boxes and other assorted clutter around. 

Tom Davies was coming over him, a long-handled axe in his hands. He was rearing back to take a swing at Peterson.

Hotchner pointed his Glock at Davies. “PUT IT DOWN!” he ordered. Davies stopped in mid motion with the axe.

“We have a warrant for your arrest as well,” Hotchner said to him. “We know you killed all those other people.”

Davies looked at the FBI agent, relaxing his hold on the axe. “He wanted to kill Dana,” he said. “Just to stick it to Chris.”

“Put it down,” he repeated.

“Shoot the bastard!” Peterson yelled out, his voice mixed with fear and arrogance.

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Davies said.

“Shoot him!” Peterson repeated. He was trying to push himself away far enough from Davies so the axe wouldn’t hit him.

“Be quiet!” Hotchner said to him. He looked at Davies. “We know what happened. We know what you did to his friends and to Kim.”

“That bitch had it coming to her!” Davies snapped.

“Put the axe down!”

Davies looked at Peterson, then back at Hotchner. “He didn’t believe I could do this, even after I told him what I did to his friends. He dared me to kill him right here. He was mocking me, daring me to do it.”

“Okay, you made your point,” Hotchner said calmly, as he saw Morgan slowly coming down the back stairs with his Glock 26 in hand. “You’re not the loser everyone made you out to be. You got your revenge.”

Davies said, “I like Dana, so what? I just wanted to say hi to her, and everyone got bent out of shape! They made me walk naked on campus just because they wanted to!”

Hotchner said, “Put the axe down and this will all be over.”

Davies turned around enough to see Morgan was behind him, twenty five feet away, now on the final step of the back stairs.

“There’s no way out of this,” Morgan warned, his Glock leveled at Davies. “Put the axe down!”

“Just shoot him already!” Peterson said. 

“Shut up!” Morgan snapped.

“It’s not like Dana’s going to date him anyway.”

“Man, shut up or I’ll shoot you myself!” Morgan warned. He moved off to the side so not to get Hotchner in his line of fire if one or both of them had to shoot Davies.

“He killed her boyfriend,” Peterson said, trying to make the situation even worse. “There’s no way she’s going to like him now.”

Neither Hotchner or Morgan wanted to say it then, but Peterson was right. There was no way Dana was going to date Tom knowing what he did to Chris Murray.

“I was trying to get her out of there when Chris came in,” Tom said. “He thought I was going to kill her. But I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“Tom, don’t listen to him,” Morgan said. “Just put the axe down and we can all walk out of here.”

Tom looked at Peterson, then looked at Morgan. Then he turned to face Hotchner. There was a silence that neither agent liked, because they knew what was going to happen.

Tom quietly said, “Tell Dana I’m sorry.”

Morgan warned, “DON’T DO IT!”

He looked down at Peterson and raised the axe quickly over his head.

Both Hotchner and Morgan fired their weapons.

Tom Davies fell down, followed by the axe out of his hands, his body ripped open by the shots fired.


	12. Chapter 12

Hotchner and Morgan led Eric Peterson out of the Omega house in handcuffs, much to the chagrin of his Omega buddies. 

Some time later, the medical examiner and his assistant took the body of Tom Davies out of the Omega house basement, as the members of the Omega cheered.

The cheering stopped when the Omegas were told by the agents that they all might be facing criminal charges for the attempted rape of Dana Brenner. Brandy Harrison was also arrested for helping Kim slip the rohipnol to Dana on Halloween night.

The case continued on into the night and into the early morning hours, as Peterson called his family, who in turn called a lawyer. Statements were taken by the agents and the police, as to ascertain how culpable the Omegas and in some sense, the Kappas, were involved in the attempted rape on Dana Brenner.

The interrogations and paperwork went on until three in the morning, when Hotchner declared the case closed.

For all intent and purposes, it was. Tom Davies had murdered six people and would’ve made it seven had Hotchner and Morgan not shot him before he finished off Eric Peterson.

Being dead would’ve been better for Eric Peterson. His father and lawyer arrived from Baltimore and heard that he was being charged for criminal conspiracy in the attempted rape of Dana Brenner. Whether the charge would stick was beside the point because it seemed that Peterson would be expelled from Maryland State University. It would also be the same for Brandy Harrison, for helping the Omegas and Kim Zachary.

Because of their role in the case, the Omegas would also be punished. University officials were informed that night and came into the police station and discussed the matter with Chief Caplan and the agents. The university officials decided that the Omega Theta Xi would lose their charter and be suspended from the university’s Greek system within the week. 

As for Kappa Delta Epsilon, they would remain on probation for the rest of the school year. 

J.J. and Prentiss went over to the hospital and informed the Brenners about the case and the arrests of Eric Peterson and Brandy Harrison. Susan Cutler was also there and told Dana that she would be welcome back into the Kappa sorority if she wanted to.

The Zachary family was also informed of what had happened. John Zachary could only shake his head upon learning his daughter’s role in what would lead to her death. 

****************************************

It was nine in the morning when the BAU agents returned to the police station.

“Thanks for everything,” Chief Caplan said, as he and Hotchner shook hands. 

“You’re welcome,” Hotchner said back.

“So what happens now?” Rossi asked.

“We’ll try to get back to some kind of normalcy,” Caplan said. “Try to repair the relationship between the school and the police.”

“Will Sergeant Borland be part of the process?” asked Prentiss.

“I’d like him to be,” Caplan replied. “One of my officers talked to him earlier. He’s going to visit his brother in Philadelphia for a couple of days. He wants to come back but he knows what he did caused a lot of damage between us and the university.”

“Never say never,” Morgan said.

“Again, thanks for everything,” the chief said. 

The agents headed back to their SUV’s in the parking lot.

“We’ll be home in a couple of hours,” Morgan remarked.

“One hour and fifty-five minutes,” Reid corrected. 

“Just for that, I’m driving real slow.”

“No, drive fast,” J.J. said. “I want to make sure Will doesn’t finish off the rest of the Halloween candy.”

“Same here,” Hotchner added. “I don’t want Jack to finish off all his candy, either.”

“He might leave you with all the raisin boxes,” Rossi said.

The November sun rose in the clear morning sky, as the SUV’s pulled out of the lot and headed home to Quantico.

_____________________________________________________

_“It ended in sunshine, not on a dark and stormy night.”_ – Dean Koontz


End file.
